rvm installation on Ubuntu for managing different rails applications

Question

I need to install rvm on a new Ubuntu machine.
I would use rvm to switch to different ruby versions and gemsets required by different Ruby on Rails applications.

rvm suggests to use the Ubuntu package . However Internet documentation on Rails on Ubuntu, such as at RailsApp , suggests to install rvm using instead the curl command with the --ruby or --rails options and the --autolibs=enable option for avoiding missing libraries:

$ \curl -L https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable --rails --autolibs=enable

I could not find information specific to the --rails option, so I do not understand what it does, install only the rails gem or install rails plus other gems useful for the rails environment, like bundler and json for instance. There is a bug however: RVM does not install Rails when invoked with curl .

Considering that I do not need the rails gem in the global gemset, supposing that the above bug will soon be fixed, what is in the end the best choice for installing rvm in Ubuntu: the Ubuntu package or the curl command with the (hopefully explained) --rails option plus the --autolibs=enable option?

Answer 1

It depends on your Ubuntu Version.

lsb_release -a

Then you can search for the instructions based on your Ubuntu Release. For example I am using Linux Mint based on Ubuntu Xenial 16 . Ubuntu uses the apt package manager to install packages

To find packages type in your terminal

apt search rvm

it will return a list of packages. To learn more about apt use:

apt --help
apt <command> --help
man apt

To install RVM you need to always reference their official webpage or github page

For ubuntu RVM has an official Ubuntu Page which give you the following instructions:

https://github.com/rvm/ubuntu_rvm

Follow those instructions